Glossary

The act of prejudice or discrimination against people with disabilities and/or the devaluation of disability (Kattari, 2015, p. 375). Reference: Kattari, S. K. (2015). Examining ableism in higher education through social dominance theory and social learning theory. Innovative Higher Education, 40(5), 375–386.

This is a paternalistic view in medicine, similar to compliance, which assumes that the informed (but still passive) patient will stick to taking their recommended treatment, barring errors. For a more detailed discussion, see Chapter 1.5.

This term describes the feelings that are generated in a particular moment in an interaction between humans and their material environment. For example, tracking apps can have an “optimistic affective atmosphere”, in terms of their promises of a hoped-for expectation of a better life, while home can produce a sense of safety.

A model that views disability as a positive aspect of human diversity, not a tragedy.

A term to describe the way technical features, in interaction with the way that users perceive and use them, enable or constraint, users’ actions. For example, “liking” a post, affords the possibilities of giving positive feedback and connecting with others who like the same post.

An epistemological position that there is a reality out there, but we cannot completely observe it because, (1) observations are snapshots of a dynamic world, and (2) the act of observing profoundly changes what is being observed. See Chapter 1.3 for more details, including Barad (2011) in the references.

Personalised indicators in the Meihana Model; appearance, nature.

A movement that challenges traditional psychiatry. It argues that psychiatric diagnoses and treatments often cause harm, ignore social and political causes of distress, and give too much power to medical professionals. It calls for more humane and socially aware approaches to mental health.

A term used to acknowledge and respect Māori language and identity, and is thus a more inclusive term for the country.

A “concept for a number of components of any kind whatsoever that interact with one another... [in a] dynamic, open-ended, complex configuration that is unfolding in often abrupt and unexpected directions" (Alverson and Sköldberg, 2017, p. 54). The idea was advanced by Deleuze and Guattari (1987) and has since been substantially developed. See Chapter 1.2 for references.

Seat of emotions, liver.

Referring to Māori gods, deities, supernatural beings, or ancestors with continuing influence.

A system or state where one person has absolute power, such as a monarchy or a dictatorship.

A term used to describe people who are progressive and well-meaning yet still participate in biased actions or thought. Aversive ableists believe they are not prejudiced—in fact, egalitarian values are important to their self-image—yet feel discomfort around people with disabilities and often act in prejudiced ways in scenarios where their prejudice is less overtly evident. Because of their egalitarian values, aversive ableists have low explicit prejudice. Reference: Friedman, C., & Owen, A. L. (2017). Defining disability: Understandings of and attitudes towards ableism and disability. Disability Studies Quarterly, 37(1). https://dsq-sds.org/index.php/dsq/article/view/5061/4545

A Māori word for river.

When used in Deleuzian-informed poststructuralist work, including more-than-human theory, it describes an ongoing, dynamic process that can be contrasted with the word "being", which implies something finished or static.

An approach to psychology based on the study of objective, observable facts and explaining behaviour through learning principles (https://dictionary.apa.org/behaviorism).

A dominant Western approach to healthcare focused on the biological aspects of disease and illness, emphasising diagnosis and treatment through scientific methods, and often excluding social or psychological factors.

Originally developed by George Engel (1977) as a critique of the reductionist biomedical model, the biopsychosocial approach considers the interplay between biological, psychological, and social factors. Critics argue the approach fails to adequately interrogate power, inequality, and social determinants of health. See Chapter 1.2 for Engel (1977) reference.

A metric calculated by dividing a person’s weight by their height squared, often used as a proxy for health. For critique, see Chapter 1.4; also the "Weight" chapter in Riley, S., Evans, A., & Robson, M. (2019). Postfeminism and health. Routledge; open access at: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781315648613/postfeminism-health-sarah-riley-adrienne-evans-martine-robson.

A healthcare professional who actively navigates systems, negotiates options, and advocates on behalf of patients to facilitate access to appropriate care.

A term used in critical realistic epistemology that describes (often unobservable) mechanisms that produce specific observable outcomes.

A term used to describe an ongoing health issue that a person needs to manage on a daily basis. This term also allows inclusion of people who are managing a health condition without a diagnosis because their symptoms do not map against recognised medical criteria.

The prioritisation and normalisation of cisgender (the assumption that everyone identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth) and heterosexual identities, treating heterosexuality and the gender binary as the default and marginalising LGBTQI+ individuals.

A term used in medicine to describe how well a patient follows a doctor’s instructions, such as taking medication or making lifestyle changes. This paternalistic view assumes the doctor knows best and that the patient should follow their advice.

A model of shared decision making in healthcare where the patient and provider reach agreement on treatment, acknowledging patient values and preferences.

A concept developed by Paulo Freire that refers to the process of becoming critically aware of social, political, and economic injustices, and recognising one’s capacity to challenge and change them. Through dialogue and reflection, people develop a deeper understanding of how power and oppression shape their lives—moving from passive acceptance to active transformation of their world. Conscientisation is central to critical pedagogy and liberation psychology. Reference: Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th Anniversary edition). Bloomsbury.

A condition whose legitimacy is questioned due to uncertain causes, diagnosis, or treatment, making it difficult for sufferers to gain recognition and support.

Beliefs, theories, or branch of science focused on how the universe or the cosmos began.

Beliefs, theories, or branch of science concerned with the nature of the universe, including its origin and development. While cosmogony is primarily concerned with the birth or creation of the universe, cosmology studies the nature of the universe from its origins to its end.

The efforts individuals make to convince others that their symptoms are genuine and deserving of medical attention or social support.

Centres and affirms the lived experiences of disability and understandings that emerge from such experiences. It is an approach that combines queer theory and disability theory through social justice frameworks.

An epistemology that centres lived experience but also considers how social structures and systems of oppression (e.g., patriarchy) shape that lived experience.

A term coined by Lauren Berlant that describes how things we desire may actually be an obstacle to our flourishing, either because they are unattainable or because they are toxic. For example, neoliberal health culture encourages individuals, especially women, to strive for self-improvement (e.g., through wellness regimes and dieting practices). The promise is wellness, thinness, and happiness, but ultimately, people are often striving for an unattainable ideal and can be harmed in the process. For example, they may develop an eating disorder in the process. See Chapter 1.4 for further discussion and references.

A healthcare approach that focuses on recognising, respecting, and responding to the cultural identity of patients, and addressing power imbalances in the healthcare encounter.

The denial of a person’s claim to illness, undermining their right to be seen as sick and thus barring access to support or understanding.

A term is to describe the removal or reduction of government regulations and controls over businesses, a core principle in neoliberal economics.

The view that events, behaviours, or outcomes are caused by specific, identifiable factors, often reducing human experiences to biological or environmental causes.

Oliver et al., (2012, p. 16) define disability as “the disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by the political, economic and cultural norms of a society which takes little or no account of people who have impairments and thus excludes them from mainstream activity (therefore disability, like racism or sexism, is discrimination and social oppression). Impairment is a characteristic of the mind, body or senses within an individual which is long-term and may, or may not, be the result of disease, genetics or injury.” Reference: Oliver, M., Sapey, B., & Thomas, P. (2012). Social work with disabled people. Palgrave Macmillan.

Foucault (1977, p. 49) stated that discourses are “practices that systematically form the objects of which they speak.” Discourse refers not just to language or conversation, but to systems of knowledge, practices, and institutions that define what is true, normal, or possible within a given historical and cultural context. Discourses shape how we think, talk about, and experience the world, including bodies, illness, and health. Discourse is also deeply connected to power, as it governs what can be said, who can speak, and what counts as legitimate knowledge. In health psychology, discourses about mental illness, obesity, or risk, for instance, are not neutral; they carry moral, political, and social implications. Reference: Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. Vintage Books.

A pathological condition characterised by symptomatology and diagnosed by medical experts. Diagnosis often involves identifying and assessing problems in the body's structure or function, detected through tests and assessments, and based on medical categorical criteria (e.g., IBS, hypertension, depressive disorders etc.).

A practice of widening the boundaries of treatable illness to expand markets for those who sell and deliver treatments. For further discussion, see, for example, Moynihan, R., Heath, I., & Henry, D. (2002). Selling sickness: The pharmaceutical industry and disease mongering. British Medical Journal (Clinical research ed.), 324(7342), 886–891. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.324.7342.886.

A research approach in which two parallel analyses are undertaken, using incompatible epistemological methods, to better understand an issue from multiple perspectives.

An ecological level refers to the layer or scale at which health and wellbeing are influenced or addressed. In health psychology, these levels are often grouped into:

Micro level – the individual or intrapersonal level (e.g., thoughts, behaviours, physical health)
Meso level – the interpersonal or relational level (e.g., family, peers, workplaces)
Macro level – the societal or structural level (e.g., laws, culture, economic systems)

Ecological thinking helps health psychologists understand how different levels interact, and why effective interventions often need to work across more than one level to create lasting change.

An example you may be familiar with from developmental psychology is Bronfenbrenner's ecological model, which depicts how human development is influenced by interconnected environmental systems.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The idea that bodily experiences, including illness, are shaped by social, cultural, and historical contexts, making the body both a biological and social entity. Within phenological traditions, “embodiment” includes how a person’s interpretations of their world, including their thoughts and feelings, are produced through their body, so that all knowledge is embodied.

The theoretical position that all knowledge can only come from direct sensory experience and observations.

The study of the interaction between genetics and the social context. The focus is on changes in gene expression influenced by environmental factors, behaviours, or life experiences (not alterations to the DNA sequence itself). These can affect how genes are turned on or off and may be passed on to future generations, affecting health and emotional wellbeing.

Fricker (2007, p. 1) defined epistemic injustice as when “someone is wronged specifically in their capacity as a knower”, either by having their credibility unfairly undermined due to prejudices about the speaker or by underrepresentation of marginalised groups in collective knowledge making. Reference: Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford.

The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, scope, and limits of knowledge. That is, how we know what we know. In critical health psychology, epistemology is intertwined with considerations of power, positionality, and the politics of knowledge. Critical health psychologists are often open to multiple ways of knowing, aligning with plural, situated, and reflexive epistemologies, as a deliberate move away from the hegemony of positivist epistemologies that dominate mainstream health psychology.

Eugenics is a philosophy and value system that advocates controlling reproduction to produce better offspring. Reference: Tolerton, J. (2011). Contraception and sterilisation – information about our contraceptives. Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/document/26996/eugenic

Socially shared expectations for how feelings and emotions may be felt or expressed. A concept coined by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild. Reference: Hochschild, A.R. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. The University of California Press.

Areas where access to affordable, nutritious food is limited or unavailable, disproportionately affecting low-income communities. Food deserts are caused by a lack of nearby grocery shops selling fresh produce, sometimes accompanied by a high concentration of cheaper fast-food restaurants in the area.

A dissociative condition involving sudden, unexpected travel away from one’s usual environment, accompanied by amnesia and confusion about identity. Historically considered a psychological response to stress or trauma.

The role of primary care providers in controlling access to specialist services, diagnostic tests, or treatments, often to manage costs or streamline care.

Global South and Global North are terms used to describe shared characteristics of a range of countries. Global South countries are mostly in the southern hemisphere and have socioeconomic and political characteristics that produce multiple health inequities, including those arising from colonisation. Global North countries tend to be in the northern hemisphere and are characterised as post-industrial nations with significant influence in the global economy. These terms highlight geographical divisions in power and inequity. There are many critiques of this terminology but it can still be useful.

Global South and Global North are terms used to describe shared characteristics of a range of countries. Global South countries are mostly in the southern hemisphere and have socioeconomic and political characteristics that produce multiple health inequities, including those arising from colonisation. Global North countries tend to be in the northern hemisphere and are characterised as post-industrial nations with significant influence in the global economy. These terms highlight geographical divisions in power and inequity. There are many critiques of this terminology but it can still be useful.

Discourses that construct what it means to live a good life and be understood by oneself and others as doing so. Often these relate to normative accounts of what it means to be a “good” person or live a “good” life.

Is a way of enacting power through people’s psychology, so that people choose to manage themselves accordingly, rather than being explicitly told to do so. Foucault described governmentality as “conduire des conduites” (translated, as guiding the possibility of conduct; 1994, p.237). Governmentality refers to the ways in which populations are governed not just through laws or coercion, but by shaping how people think, act, and conduct themselves. In health contexts, governmentality describes how individuals come to monitor and regulate their own behaviour in line with societal norms, without needing external enforcement. References: Foucault, M. (1994). Dits et écrits IV. Gallimard; Madsen, O. J. (2014). Governmentality. In T. Teo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of critical psychology. Springer.

A prescription for a support service or activity (e.g., an exercise class), in contrast to a pharmaceutical prescription.

Breath of life from ancestors.

A kinship group or subtribe, comprised of a number of whānau (family) and sharing a common ancestor; section of an iwi (tribe) and the primary political unit in traditional Māori society.

A Māori word that refers to the breath of life and spirit; a physical sense of wellbeing for an individual, and integrated with, and dependent upon, collective qualities. References: Henare, M. (1988). Ngā tikanga me ngā ritenga o te ao Māori: Standards and foundations of Māori society. In The April report: Report of the Royal Commission on Social Policy. Volume 3, Part 1: Future directions, associated papers. The Royal Commission on Social Policy. https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE17401282; Pihama, L., & Smith, L. T. (2023). Ora: Healing ourselves: Indigenous knowledge, healing and wellbeing. Huia.

The Declaration of Independence, signed in 1835, declaring the independence of rangatira and asserting Aotearoa New Zealand as an independent state.

A worldview/belief system , rooted in neoliberal ideology, that emphasises individual choice and responsibility for health over broader social, environmental, and structural factors, making health a personal responsibility. A term coined by Crawford (1980). Reference: Crawford, R. (1980). Healthism and the medicalization of everyday life. International Journal of Health Services, 10(3), 365–388. https://doi.org/10.2190/3H2H-3XJN-3KAY-G9NY

A term coined by Raewyn Connell to describe a dominant and culturally valued form of masculinity, contrasted and defined against femininity, and in hierarchical relationships with other forms of masculinity. For a discussion of this concept that has developed over the years, see Messerschmidt, J. W., & Bridges, T. (2024). Legitimation as linchpin: On Raewyn Connell’s changing conceptualization of ‘hegemonic masculinity’. International Review of Sociology, 34(2), 211–239. https://doi.org/10.1080/03906701.2024.2388616

Hermeneutics is a branch of philosophy related to the theory and practice of interpretation. Hermeneutics of empathy is an approach to interpretation that focuses on people’s worldviews. It seeks to deeply understand, capture, and reflect back how people experience an issue, and make sense of those experiences.

Hermeneutics is a branch of philosophy related to the theory and practice of interpretation. Hermeneutics of suspicion is an approach to interpretation that interrogates the claims presented in the data, seeking to uncover more than the surface meaning. The researcher may use a theoretical framework to do this, for example, poststructuralism or psychoanalysis.

The assumption that heterosexuality is the norm or default, which can marginalise LGBTQ+ individuals in healthcare settings and research.

Atua, god, first woman.

Atua, god, whom Hine-tītama recreates herself as.

Atua, god, first daughter of Hine-ahu-one and Tāne.

Mind, thought, psychological; see also Te taha hinengaro.

To be bored/boring, annoying/annoyed, to be fed up with.

A now-discredited medical diagnosis, historically applied primarily to women, that attributed a wide range of physical and emotional symptoms to dysfunctions of the uterus or nervous system. Often used to pathologise women’s distress and resistance.

Harm caused unintentionally by healthcare interventions, including side effects, psychological damage, or reinforcing stigma.

An approach that prioritises understanding the unique individual, such as their characteristics, behaviour, personality, or lived experience, and interpretation of those experiences. Can be contrasted with the nomothetic approach, which seeks to produce generalisable or universal patterns or principles of human behaviour.

Stories people tell about their, or other people’s, illness that can provide a resource for making sense of that illness.

When a powerful country extends its control over other countries or territories, often through force, colonisation, or political and economic dominance. It involves exploiting land, resources, and people for the benefit of the imperial power, and usually imposes its own values, systems, and authority on those it dominates.

The  medical process of artificially starting labour by using medications or other methods to initiate contractions, rather than waiting for labour to begin naturally.

The physical harm or damage to the body resulting from an external force, such as accidents or violence. Injuries can range from minor to severe and can have immediate and/or long-term effects on an individual's health and functioning, sometimes creating disability or vulnerability to subsequent disease.

Refers to the process of being hailed by an identity. It includes the process of giving someone or something an identity (e.g., when a magazine addresses the reader in a particular way), but also that person’s identification with, or acceptance of, this identity. The philosopher Louis Althusser connected interpellation to ideology, using the analogy of a policeman shouting “hey you” as people walk down a street. The person who turns towards the policeman has recognised that the “hailing” was for them. In this analogy, the policeman is an ideology (e.g., healthism), and responding to the call is the process of internalising and accepting that ideology (e.g., identifying with, and enacting, digital health citizenship).

The use of intersecting identity markers (like race, age, gender, class) by healthcare providers—often unconsciously—to make assumptions about patients' risk or credibility.

A theoretical framework for conceptualising how multiple social positions, including racialised, gendered, classed, and those related to sexuality, disability, and immigration status, intersect together to create complex forms of inequality, discrimination, or disadvantage. Intersectionality was a term coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, to highlight how Black women, in particular, experience overlapping and intensified forms of oppression. When using intersectional theory, it is important to recognise that race is essential to the theory, and studies using intersectional theory that do not consider race (e.g., those exploring the intersections of class and gender only) belie the foundations of the theory, and risk whitewashing it.

A focus on actively intervening in the body to address illness, often through medical procedures, pharmaceuticals, or technologies, emphasising treatment over prevention or social determinants of health.

A term often used by Karen Barad (2007) to describe how elements are not separate, pre-existing entities that subsequently interact, but are co-constituted, or produced through emerging relational entanglements. It can be contrasted with the term “interaction”, in which two already existing elements interact. Reference: Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Duke University Press.

A form of contraception placed inside a uterus to prevent pregnancy.

Extended Māori kinship group, tribe, nation; a large group of people descended from a common ancestor and associated with a distinct territory, usually comprised of a number of hapū (subtribes).

Guardianship, stewardship.

Māori performing arts group.

Prayer, incantation, chant.

Topic, policy, matter for discussion, plan, purpose, scheme, proposal, agenda, subject, programme, theme, issue, initiative.

A Māori approach embedded in Māori knowledges and worldviews.

Research theory and practice that emphasises Māori cultural ways and knowledges, with a focus on transformative outcomes for Māori (Smith, 2017). Reference: Smith, G. H. (2017). Kaupapa Māori theory: Indigenous transforming of education. In T. K. Hoskins & A. Jones (Eds.), Critical conversations in Kaupapa Māori (pp. 70–81). Huia.

Referring to governance, as a provision of Article 1 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Discussion, dialogue, narrative, story, speech.

Māori immersion primary schools.

The place in Māori creation narratives where the first woman, Hineahuone, was created.

Everyday understandings of health and illness held by people outside the medical profession, often rooted in lived experience and cultural context.

A certain kind of liminal space where there is risk of getting "stuck" between two mutually exclusive alternatives due to a lack of ability to move toward one or the other.

The period of time or event in which liminality is a defining characteristic.

A period of transition, where someone or something moves from one form or process into a different, but recognisable kind of state or process (e.g., moving between careers or from the situation of being healthy to acquiring a chronic condition).

An individualist, often socio-cognitive psychology that dominates English-language psychology.

Pain, suffering, wound, trauma.

Spiritual authority or power.

Unique identity.

A gathering place for Māori made up of a communal complex of buildings and grounds belonging to a particular hapū (sub-tribe). The marae includes the courtyard, wharenui (meeting house), wharekai (dining hall), and sometimes other grounds and buildings.

A star constellation (Pleiades) signalling the Māori new year.

A body or continuum of Māori knowledges; refers to something unique and valuable about the Māori world (Royal, 2012); encompassing of all branches of Māori knowledges, including past, present, and still developing (Mead, 2016). References: Mead, H. (2016). Tikanga Māori: Living by Māori values. Huia; Royal, T. A. C. (2012). Politics and knowledge: Kaupapa Māori and Mātauranga Māori. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies Te Hautaki Mātai Mātauranga o Aotearoa, 47(2), 30–37.

In more-than-human theory, this refers to the elements of the physical world in an assemblage. It includes bodies, buildings, technology, and any other physical elements, both human and non-human made. Within these theories, these material elements are conceptualised as agentic, in the sense that they create affective relations that increase or decrease the capacities of an assemblage. For example, in Chapter 1.2 we discussed how a cardioverter-defibrillator (a device implanted in people with heart arrhythmias or other conditions) is part of a dynamic network of interacting human and non-human elements that produce a heartbeat.

Mountain.

Life essence; see also Mauri ora.

Refers to the life-giving essence, the spark and vitality of life that binds the spiritual and physical (Barlow, 1991; Mead, 2016). References: Barlow, C. (1991). Tikanga whakaaro: Key concepts in Māori culture. Oxford University Press; Mead, H. (2016). Tikanga Māori: Living by Māori values. Huia.

A perspective in biomedicine that treats the body as a machine, with health problems understood as malfunctions of individual parts that can be fixed or replaced.

The socially and legally sanctioned power of medical professionals to diagnose, treat, and make decisions about health and illness.

A situation where a healthcare professional dismisses or minimises a patient’s symptoms, concerns, or experiences, leading the patient to doubt their own perceptions and delaying proper diagnosis or treatment. Also see, epistemic injustice.

The expanding remit of medicine, where aspects of life that were once not seen as medical come to be understood as medical, and therefore needing medical treatment. For example, addiction, often previously considered a personality or moral issue, is now often considered a medical one. Other examples, include personality traits like shyness or “natural” processes like aging or menopause.

A Māori model of health to guide assessment and treatment that is represented as a waka hourua traversing the ocean. Whānau are placed at the centre, alongside the individual, and the model includes the four dimensions of Te Whare Tapa Whā. The historical and social context of Aotearoa New Zealand is represented as ngā hau e whā, the four winds. It also includes components from te ao Māori that influence wellbeing, depicted as ngā roma moana, ocean currents (Pitama, et al., 2007, 2017). Discussed in detail in Chapter 1.1.

A philosophical concept that separates the mind and body as distinct entities, with the mind associated with thoughts and emotions, and the body viewed as a physical machine. This perspective has influenced biomedicine by prioritising physical health over psychological or emotional factors.

The chronic stress experienced by marginalised groups due to stigma and discrimination.

Ocean.

The expectation that individuals are accountable for their health status or choices, often shaped by neoliberal and healthism discourses.

Lament, traditional chant, sung poetry.

A term coined by Black feminist scholar, Audre Lorde, to describe the standards that society upholds as the norm, marginalising those who do not fit into this narrow framework: “there is what I call a mythical norm, which each one of us within our hearts knows ‘that is not me’. In America, this norm is usually defined as white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financially secure. It is with this mythical norm that the trappings of power reside within this society” (Lorde, 1984, p. 116). Reference: Lorde, A. (1984). Sister outsider: Essays and speeches. Crossing Press.

Underpins the belief that health phenomena are rooted in physical or biological processes, and can be objectively measured, quantified, and explained through the scientific experimental method and cause-and-effect relationships. In critical health psychology, the natural science paradigm is critiqued for its narrow focus on biological determinants of health.

A way of conceptualising citizenship that gives value and status to people who are economically active, “appropriately” consuming so that they can participate in consumer culture, and able to manage economic risks to meet the needs of a fluctuating market economy and avoid being a cost to the state (e.g., through welfare or health service use). Examples include spending money on consumer goods, especially in a recession, producing one’s sense of self and identity through consumption (e.g., buying a house, paying for gym membership), understanding economic risks and responding accordingly, such as retraining into a new industry that has more economic opportunities. To enact this citizenship, neoliberal subjects are self-disciplined, reflexive, risk-managing, and autonomous, managing themselves as a project to remain a valued citizen within neoliberal economies, primarily through economic and consumer participation. Neoliberal health citizenship applies this logic to heath, where the citizen is viewed as a rational actor who must actively manage their own health through personal choice, discipline, and market participation. For more information see, for example, Mavelli, L. (2022). Neoliberal citizenship: Sacred markets, sacrificial lives. Oxford Academic.

An economic and political approach that promotes free markets, individual responsibility, and limited government. In health, it often means shifting responsibility for wellbeing onto individuals instead of addressing wider social issues like poverty, racism, or inequality.

A 19th- and early 20th-century diagnosis describing fatigue, anxiety, and weakness, thought to result from the stresses of modern life. It was often linked to middle-class men but later pathologised women as well.

Sometimes abbreviated as ND, neurodivergent means having a mind that functions in ways that diverge significantly from the dominant societal standards of “normal” (Walker, 2025, https://neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions/).

The diversity of human minds, the infinite variation in neurocognitive functioning within our species (Walker, 2025). Reference: Walker, N. (2025). Neurodiversity: Some basic terms & definitions. https://neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions/

Is a social justice movement that seeks civil rights, equality, respect, and full societal inclusion for the neurodivergent (Walker, 2025). Reference: Walker, N. (2025). Neurodiversity: Some basic terms & definitions. https://neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions/

Often abbreviated as NT, neurotypical means having a style of neurocognitive functioning that falls within the dominant societal standards of “normal” (Walker, 2025). Reference: Walker, N. (2025). Neurodiversity: Some basic terms & definitions. https://neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions/

An umbrella term for several theoretical “posthuman” approaches that share the idea that materiality plays an active role in shaping the issue under study. It incorporates critical theory, such as poststructuralism and feminist theory, and explores the dynamic, co-constituting relations between the human and the nonhuman by giving agency to non-human actors; it also decentres the human, in contrast to, for example, humanism.

The four winds.

Leadership, leaders.

The ocean currents.

Referring to all of the rights as a provision of Article 3 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Heart, seat of emotions.

Ordinary state, to be free from the restrictions of tapu.

An approach that seeks to produce generalisable/universal patterns or principles of human behaviour by identifying patterns across large groups of people. It can be contrasted with the idiographic approach which focuses on studying unique elements of individuals.

A setting or set of conditions that promote excessive calorie intake and sedentary behaviour contributing to weight gain. This can include factors like the availability of unhealthy food options, lack of (safe/adequate) spaces for physical activity, and social or cultural norms around eating and exercise.

A branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of being, existence, or reality. Ontology considers the assumptions that we make about what kinds of things exist (e.g., health, illness), and how they come into being.

A movement to open up all stages of the research process, including publicly registering research questions, hypotheses, and analysis plans before data collection begins, as well as making data sets publicly available.

A New Zealander of European descent, often a form of positive identification in relation to te ao Māori.

Earth, ground, also an abbreviation of Papatūānuku.

Earth, Earth Mother.

The process of treating difference as something abnormal or in need of medical treatment. It reflects the workings of institutional authority, particularly psychiatry, psychology, and medicine, in defining what counts as “normal”, “healthy”, or “sane”. For example, until 1973, homosexuality was historically pathologised as mental disorder when listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

An approach to healthcare that centres the patient’s needs, values, and preferences, and encourages shared decision making and holistic support.

A positive transformation resulting from a liminal occasion. See Chapter 3.2 for further discussion.

A strategy used in some health promotion campaigns that aims to change behaviour by deliberately evoking feelings of shame, fear, or revulsion. It often relies on stigmatising images or messages to discourage behaviours seen as unhealthy (e.g., smoking, drug use, or “obesity”). While intended to motivate change, this approach can reinforce stereotypes, blame individuals for their health, and cause psychological harm—especially for people from already marginalised groups (Lupton, 2015). Reference: Lupton, D. (2015). The pedagogy of disgust: The ethical, moral and political implications of using disgust in public health campaigns. Critical Public Health, 25(1), 4–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2014.885115

Phenomenology is the “study of human experience and the way in which things are perceived as they appear to consciousness” (Langdridge, 2007, p.10). Psychological research informed by phenomenology focuses on conscious individual experience, including interpretation of that experience. The person is conceptualised as an interpreter who is constantly making sense of their conscious experiences. Phenomenological psychological research considers how a phenomenon is subjectively perceived, experienced, and interpreted by a person. Reference: Langdridge, D. (2007). Phenomenological psychology: Theory, research and method. Pearson Education.

Refers to how social and cultural categories, such as those related to a person’s gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race, class, able bodiedness, and so forth, locate them in the world, providing them with certain vantage points, as well as frameworks from which they might be understood by others.

An approach within qualitative research that challenges traditional approaches within qualitative psychology that have the individual as the primary unit of analysis. Instead, it undertakes research that decentres the human, explores the interconnectedness of human and nonhuman, and is often critical of pre-defined methods or methods that reproduce the values of quantitative research. It informed by critical theories including, posthuman and more-than-human theories, poststructuralism, feminist and queer theories, and Indigenous scholarship and philosophies.

A term used to describe an element of our current political era where objective facts and truth claims have less value in public and political discourse than personal beliefs, opinions, emotional appeals, or explicit use of untruths or unsubstantiated claims that are presented as truths.

A term with multiple meanings. Here, we use it in reference to Rosalind Gill’s (2007) concept of a "postfeminist sensibility" in which notions of choice, individualism, and empowerment are connected with expectations to work on and transform the body and mind, often through consumerism. Postfeminist sensibility is usually considered in relation to disciplinary power [see Chapter 1.4]. Reference: Gill, R. (2007). Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 10(2), 147–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367549407075898.

A framework for understanding how healthism is gendered, which for girls, women, and other people interpellated by femininity, connects healthism (health as a personal responsibility) to a postfeminist sensibility, where work on the body and mind to meet normative constructs of healthy femininity is constructed as empowering, but which often functions as a social prescription and form of disciplinary power. References: See Chapter 1.4 of this volume. Also see Riley, S., Evans, A. & Robson, M. (2019). Postfeminism and health. Routledge.

An umbrella term to describe a range of approaches that challenge humanist ideas that centre humans and conceptualise them as bounded and self-contained actors in the world, instead, emphasising dynamic, co-constituting relations between the human and nonhuman.

At its broadest level, poststructuralism can be defined as an approach that seeks to push the focus of inquiry beyond knowable structures in the study of social behaviour. It brings to the fore the importance of knowledge systems and their power in limiting the breadth of human thought and action. Rather than drawing causal links between structures (be they economic, social, linguistic, or otherwise) and human behaviour, poststructuralism seeks to interrogate the forms of knowledge, the logics, and the assumptions that underlie our actions and—for the purposes of critical psychology—our interventions on the social. Reference: Macleod, T., & Palmer, M. (2014). Post-structuralism. In T. Teo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of critical psychology. Springer.

Carved wooden poles or posts that can serve as boundary markers and support structures integral to the building of Marae, a gathering place for Māori made up of a communal complex of buildings and grounds belonging to a particular hapū (sub-tribe). The pou support the Marae meeting house, and for that reason this term is sometimes adopted by institutions to refer to the central values supporting the work that is done within them.

To introduce the foundations of critical health psychology, we described five pou (pillars or central values), namely, (1) valuing theoretical/conceptual thinking, (2) challenging taken-for-granted understandings, (3) paying attention to issues of power and equity, (4) moving beyond individualist psychology, and (5) considering knowledge as produced in context.

Unequal distribution of power in healthcare interactions, often seen in the authority held by providers over patients' bodies, choices, and narratives.

Critical health psychologists tend to use the word “practices” rather than “behaviour” when talking about things that people do. This is because the word practices recognises the performative, social, and relational elements of what we do. Rather than locating behaviour as an outcome of individual decision, the word “practices” recognises that people’s behaviours are shaped by a range of social and relational elements, such a social norms, expectations, power relations, and the contexts in which they live and interact with others. While “behaviour” implies something inherent or individual, “practice” highlights that actions are embedded in these contexts.

From a critical theory perspective, this entails a cycle of engaging with theory, taking action, and reflecting and critiquing the action to then inform the theory, and so on.

The current day consideration of the terms of agreement of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and The Treaty of Waitangi. 

Emphasises the continual unfolding of an emerging world, directing attention to those forces that shape the emerging world, rather than its separated-out components.

A Foucauldian term, productive power operates when some ideas about the world, and the people in it, accrue greater cultural acceptance than others. We can think of this as power that produces particular understandings, in contrast to coercive power, which is enacted when a person explicitly, and forcibly, wields power over another. See Chapter 1.4 for further explanation.

A belief system or cultural norm that values and promotes childbirth and parenting, often positioning those who are childfree (by choice or circumstance) as deviant or deficient.

The specific terms of agreement within the text of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and The Treaty of Waitangi. 

The wide system of ideas and practices that make up psychology. This includes fields like psychiatry, social psychology, social work, and education, which use psychological approaches to address social issues.

An interdisciplinary field studying the interactions between psychological processes, the nervous system, and the immune system, exploring how mental states such as stress and emotions can influence immune function and overall physical health.

Seat of emotions, stomach.

Māori narratives or stories.

In this context, an umbrella term that covers all sexual and gender minorities, and people with variations of sex characteristics, and which avoids the acronym LGBTQIA+. This can be used to identify communities as well as an individual. Reference: https://www.publicservice.govt.nz/guidance/glossary/diversity-and-inclusion

Chief, leader.

Independence, authority, sovereignty.

Abbreviation of Ranginui; Sky, Sky Father.

Sky, Sky Father.

A realist ontology is philosophical understanding that a real world, or “singular reality”, exists independently of people perceiving that world, and which has enough constancy that stable patterns of reality exist to be discovered.

The approach of simplifying complex phenomena by breaking them down into their smallest components, often overlooking broader social, cultural, or systemic influences.

The process of critically examining one's own role and assumptions. This means exploring how your values and social positions shape your knowledge production, from project conceptualisation through to analysis. Reflexivity can occur at multiple levels, including your values; positions of privilege and marginality; methodological, theoretical, philosophical, political, or disciplinary assumptions or commitments; and your hopes, expectations, anxieties and fears for your work.

The process of making something abstract more concrete or real.

A term coined by Robson et al. (2023) to describe how healthism materialises in intimate relationships, so that expectations to work on one’s health as part of an understanding of health as a personal responsibility extend into romantic relationships, producing health as a joint endeavour. Reference: Robson, M., Riley, S., Gagen, E., & McKeogh, D. (2022). Love and lifestyle: How ‘relational healthism’ structures couples’ talk of engagement with lifestyle advice associated with a new diagnosis of coronary heart disease. Psychology & Health, 38(12), 1606–1622. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2022.2033240

A relativist epistemology is philosophical understanding that we cannot access the real world directly, because our experience of it is always mediated, though, for example, our biology, personal histories, and available social constructs. The knowledge we have of the world, and our methods for making that knowledge, are therefore always partial, shaped by who we are, and cannot include the full "reality".

Language; see Te reo Māori.

A framework that links reproductive rights to broader social justice, emphasising the right to have children, not have children, and parent in safe, supportive environments, especially for marginalised groups.

Refers to the processes by which individuals are made to feel personally responsible for managing their health and wellbeing, often in ways that align with neoliberal rationality and values of self-discipline, appropriate risk management, and autonomy.

The function or identity a healthcare professional takes on—such as expert, educator, advocate, or gatekeeper—that shapes how they relate to and interact with patients.

Traditional healing practices and medicines.

Are defined as “prevailing sociocultural understandings (sets of meanings, metaphors, representations, images, stories, statements, and so forth) present in society’s language practices and in the particular context in which [talk] is situated” (Morison & Macleod, 2015, p. 9). Reference: Morison, T., & Macleod, C. (2015). Men's pathways to parenthood: Silence and heterosexual gendered norms. HSRC Press.

A collaborative process in which healthcare providers and patients make treatment decisions together, based on clinical evidence and the patient’s values.

A temporary social position granted to people who are perceived as legitimately ill, allowing them exemption from normal responsibilities and granting them support.

An observable, measurable indication of a health condition, such as a rash or fever, recognised as objective evidence of disease.

Psychological frameworks that explain health behaviours by focusing on how people think, feel, and make decisions, often considering factors like beliefs, attitudes, self-efficacy, and social influences.

A range of approaches that share the ideas that knowledge is historical and culturally specific, produced through language and other forms of representation, and that knowledge and social processes go together, since how we understand the world is produced in interaction and shapes what is possible for people to think, feel, say, or do. Although there is variety in the way social constructionist approaches engage with power, social construction has an inherently critical agenda “since it seeks to question taken-for-granted knowledge about the social world and how we categorise it, which proclaims itself (sometimes subtly and sometimes not so subtly) to be self-evident truth” (Cooper & Thorogood, 2013, p. 21). References: Burr, V. (2025). Social constructionism (4th ed.). Routledge; Cooper, S. & Thorogood, N. (2013). Social construction of health and health promotion. In L. Cragg, M. Davies, & W. Macdowall (Eds.), Health promotion theory (pp. 20–34). McGrawHill.

The social gradient in health refers to the consistent finding that people with lower socioeconomic status tend to have worse health outcomes than those with higher status, with health improving at each step up the social ladder.

The pursuit of a fair and equitable society in which all people have equal access to rights, resources, and opportunities, regardless of their raced, gendered, classed positions, ability, sexuality, and so forth. Social justice moves beyond a focus on rights, by challenging power imbalances, and questioning the systemic barriers to health and structural causes of health inequities.

Social prescribing (SP) is where a patient is referred to a “link worker”, who considers their needs and then “prescribes” or connects them to appropriate community-based resources and services to improve patient health and wellbeing. Friedli, L., & Watson, S. (2004). Social prescribing for mental health: A guide to commissioning and delivery. Care Services Improvement Partnership—provides examples of social prescribing initiatives in the UK, including those that address housing and other social issues.

How a particular illness is received by others; how they respond to people with different conditions.

The process by which others recognise or deny a person’s claim to be ill, influencing whether that person receives sympathy, care, or assistance.

A framework to understand human development including the interactions between individuals and their social environments. Developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner.

Refers to the lived experience of space, emphasising how our bodies and spatial positioning shape our understanding of the world, rather than viewing space as an abstract entity.

The negative attitude attached to a characteristic of an individual that may be regarded as a mental, physical, or social deficiency; an “attribute that is deeply discrediting” (Goffman (1963, p. 3). Stigma implies social disapproval and can lead unfairly to discrimination against, and exclusion of, the individual. References: https://dictionary.apa.org/stigma; Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Simon & Schuster.

The negative labelling and social devaluation of individuals because of their illness, often leading to exclusion and discrimination.

A philosophical tradition associated with thinkers like Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. Stoicism values self-control, rationality, and acceptance of things beyond one’s control. In health contexts, it can shape the expectation to endure suffering without complaint.

A term used to describe how discourses produce types of persons or roles that have associated ways of speaking and acting (Davies & Harré, 1990). When people occupy a subject position, they have a particular vantage point to understand themselves or be understood by others. Reference: Davies, B., & Harré, R. (1990). Positioning: The social construction of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.1990.tb00174.x

The personal, emotional, and embodied experience of being unwell, often differing from biomedical interpretations of disease.

How we make sense of ourselves; a person’s understanding and sense of themselves. Social constructionist and critical theorists prefer the term subjectivity to identity, because identity implies a fixed characteristic located within the individual, whereas subjectivity implies a more ongoing sense of self, produced within social context.

A flower and symbol for invisible disability.

Cultural narratives that position people with serious illness (like cancer) as heroic survivors, often placing pressure on individuals to “fight” or “overcome” disease.

A subtle form of prejudice against disabled people. It is often expressed through seemingly harmless or even positive statements that perpetuate negative stereotypes and reinforce systemic discrimination. Symbolic ableists score high in terms of individualism, including the idea that if people with disabilities try hard enough, they can succeed (Friedman & Owen, 2017). Reference: Friedman, C., & Owen, A. L. (2017). Defining disability: Understandings of and attitudes towards ableism and disability. Disability Studies Quarterly, 37(1). https://dsq-sds.org/index.php/dsq/article/view/5061/4545

The process of understanding bodily changes as signs of illness; influenced by personal, social, and cultural factors.

Subjective, personal experiences of a bodily sensation that may indicate illness, such as pain or fatigue.

Referring to domains and dimensions in Māori models of health.

Ideas that people do not notice because they feel normal and natural.

An atua or god in a Māori worldview; offspring to Papatūānuku and Ranginui.

Person seeking wellness (plural: tāngata whai ora).

Disabled people.

People of the land, local people, Indigenous people.

A state of restrictedness, sacredness.

A student/pupil.

A Māori term for non-Māori people living in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Māori world, Māori worldviews.

Refers to the third phase in time in the origins of the universe from a Māori worldview, within which humans exist; meaning the world of light.

Translates in English to language nest, referring to Māori early childhood education. Focuses on total immersion in Māori language and values for preschool children.

Refers to the most distant phase in time, the beginning of the universe from a Māori worldview; meaning the source of all life, the nothingness, and the void.

Autonomy, authority.

Pacific Ocean.

Livelihood.

A Māori health model within health promotion represented as the Southern Cross star constellation, with four central stars and two pointer stars that symbolise the key tasks of health promotion (Durie, 1999). Reference: Durie, M. (1999). Te Pae Māhutonga: A model for Māori health promotion. Health Promotion Forum of New Zealand Newsletter. https://www.cph.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/TePaeMahutonga.pdf [PDF]

Refers to the second phase in time in the origins of the universe from a Māori worldview within which only atua (gods) existed; meaning darkness, and the night.

The Māori language.

Referring to Māori spiritual practices, as a provision of Article 4 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.  

Dimension of mental and emotional wellbeing.

Dimension of physical wellbeing.

Dimension of spiritual wellbeing.

Dimension of family and social wellbeing.

Natural environment.

Te reo Māori text of the treaty signed in 1840 between the British Crown and Māori, referred to as the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand as a nation. Discussed in detail in Chapter 1.1.

A Māori health model that frames wellbeing across four domains: te taha tinana, physical wellbeing, te taha hinengaro, mental and emotional wellbeing, te taha whānau, family and social wellbeing, and te taha wairua, spiritual wellbeing (Durie, 1985, 2001). Discussed in detail in Chapter 1.1. Reference: Durie, M. (1985). A Māori perspective of health. Social Science & Medicine, 20(5), 483–486. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(85)90363-6

A Māori model of health that affirms individual wellbeing as inseparable from whānau wellbeing. Represented as an octopus, the head symbolises whānau and the eyes represent waiora,  the overall wellbeing of whānau. Each of the eight tentacles represent a dimension of wellbeing, including those encompassed in Te Whare Tapa Whā: wairuatanga, hinengaro, tinana, and whanaungatanga, as well as a further four dimensions: mauri, life essence, mana ake, unique identity, hā a koro mā, a kui mā, breath of life from ancestors, and whatumanawa, healthy expression of emotions (Pere, 1997). Reference: Pere, R. (1997). Te wheke: A celebration of infinite wisdom. Ao Ako Global Learning New Zealand.

The work people do on themselves to produce themselves into a desired subject position; “technologies of the self which permit individuals to effect by their own means or with the help of others a certain number of operations on their own bodies and souls, thoughts, conduct, and way of being, so as to transform themselves in order to attain a certain state of happiness, purity, wisdom, perfection, or immortality” (Foucault, 1988, p.18). Reference: Foucault, M. (1988). Technologies of the self. In L. H. Martin, H. Gutman, & P. H. Hutton (Eds.), Technologies of the self: A seminar with Michel Foucault (pp. 16–49). The University of Massachusetts Press.

Refers to the human perception of time, including the social organisation of time and the state of existing within or having some relationship with time. People and objects are always spatially and temporally located.

The English text of the treaty signed in 1840 between the British Crown and Māori, referred to as the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand as a nation. Discussed in detail in Chapter 1.1. 

Māori customs and correct processes.

Body, physical; see also Te taha tinana. 

Independence, self-determination, sovereignty; referring to independence, as a provision of Article 2 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Ancestors.

Sign or symbol.

Expert, skilled person, healer.

Total vitality spiritually and physically.

Expectations that produce social norms and cultural imperatives to be continuously working on the mind and/or body in order to improve it; often linked to neoliberalism and postfeminism.

Elder sibling (of the same gender); mentor.

A place to stand or belong, a place where one has rights of residence and belonging through kinship and whakapapa.

Origin or homelands; source of sustenance.

Cemetery, burial grounds.

A concept in some Pacific cultures that describes the interconnectedness between people, and people and the environment; it foregrounds the importance of building meaningful relationships, and describes the context in which relationships unfold and the importance of maintaining harmony and balance within these relationships. For further information see https://ncea.education.govt.nz/pacific-values-framework, which describes a Pacific values framework in education that connects vā (relationships, reciprocity), with kuleana (responsibility), alofa (love dignity respect), vaka (collectivism), and fonua (belonging and connectedness).

Deeply held beliefs about what is important, right, or desirable. Values shape people’s attitudes and behaviours, and reflect broader worldviews about how society should function and what kinds of outcomes are worth striving for.

Māori woman/women.

Song.

Refers to total wellbeing and strength of spirit, denoting flowing and life-sustaining waters (Pere, 1997). Reference: Pere, R. (1997). Te wheke: A celebration of infinite wisdom. Ao Ako Global Learning New Zealand.

Describes the spiritual and unseen; central to a Māori worldview about reality and human life; the ultimate reality of existence for Māori (Marsden, 1992). Reference: Marsden, M. (1992). God, man and universe: A Māori view. In M. King (Ed.), Te ao hurihuri aspects of Māoritanga (pp. 117–137). Reed Publishing.

Spirit, spirituality; see Wairua.

Large double-hulled canoe vessel (waka).

People who are determined to do well.

Embarrassment, shame.

Refers to genealogy and layers of genealogy. The Māori worldview describes human life as descending from gods, and as related to the natural environment; the structure by which all things are connected (Barlow, 1991). Reference: Barlow, C. (1991). Tikanga whakaaro: Key concepts in Māori culture. Oxford University Press.

A significant Māori saying or proverb attributed to a known person.

A significant Māori saying or proverb with unknown origins.

The process of establishing relationships.

Family, extended family.

Māori family or families.

Describes family and collective wellbeing; a term promoted in contemporary Māori health policy.

Relationships, sense of connectedness; refers to relationship and kinship; it highlights connections between the natural world, gods or deities, ancestors, and humankind and encompasses a collective interdependence (Henry & Pene, 2001). Reference: Henry, E., & Pene, H. (2001). Kaupapa Māori research: Locating indigenous ontology, epistemology and methodology in the academy. Organization, 8(2), 234–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508401082009

House.

Dining hall.

Meeting house.

Healthy expression of emotions; seat of emotions.

Land, earth; also refers to placenta.